Trump and Putin had second, undisclosed meeting at G20 summit

President Trump speaks during a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin at the G20. (Evan Vucci/AP)

He thought Vladimir Putin was so nice, he met him twice.

President Trump had a second, previously undisclosed meeting with Russia's leader on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Germany, the White House confirmed.

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The commander-in-chief's sit-down with his Kremlin counterpart was the focus of much of his time in Hamburg earlier this month, with questions swirling about how the two addressed issues including war in Syria and Moscow's alleged meddling in the 2016 election.

Their first encounter lasted over two hours, but running over their allotted 30 minutes together was reportedly not enough time face-to-face for the world leaders.

Details about the extra meeting were scarce, though the White House confirmed Tuesday that it occurred on the evening of July 7 at a G20 dinner.

Eurasia Group president and post-Soviet expert Ian Bremmer, who broke news of the meeting, told Charlie Rose on Tuesday that it lasted an hour.

Though the pair had been joined by Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov at their official meeting, Trump and Putin had only a translator with them at the dinner meeting, the Washington Post reported.

The conversation was reportedly held with other world leaders watching but out of earshot, according to the newspaper.

Putin was seated next to First Lady Melania Trump at the world leaders' dinner, while the President sat next to Juliana Awada, the wife of Argentina's president, Mauricio Macri.

It was not immediately clear why the Trump administration waited to tell the public about the meeting, or what the Russian leader discussed with either of the Trumps.

Russian President Vladimir Putin (left) talks to the First Lady Melania Trump at a G20 dinner. (Pool/Getty Images)

A statement from the White House disputed that the chat was a "meeting" and said that it had not tried to "hide" what it called a normal occurrence at events such as the G20.

Trump himself took to Twitter Tuesday night and said, "Fake News story of secret dinner with Putin is 'sick.'

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"Even a dinner arranged for top 20 leaders in Germany is made to look sinister," he said.

Despite Trump maintaining nothing unusual went on, former Obama adviser Ben Rhodes criticized the lack of transparency and said that his former boss used to give read-outs of similar conversations on the edges of international summits.

Trump "should immediately read out the content of his one-on-one chat with Putin ... before Putin does," former U.S. Ambassador to Russia Michael McFaul said on Twitter.

Rep. Eliot Engel (D-Bronx), a member of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs, issued a scathing statement depicting the mysterious meeting as a red flag, and demanding to know what the two leaders discussed.

"Scandal dealing with Russia is swirling around this Administration, and rather than provide answers, the President's behavior only leaves us asking more questions," Engel said.

Putin and Trump agreed on a partial Syrian ceasefire in their initial meeting, where Russian officials said Trump also accepted Moscow's assertions that it had nothing to do with any election meddling.